Oregon’s ‘Pay It Forward, Pay It back’ college plan

A plan to provide free tuition to Oregon’s students has passed by the state legislature. The Senate and House unanimously approved the ‘Pay it Forward, Pay it Back’ college plan, which ironically comes at a time when subsidized Stafford student loans double to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent.

The pilot, which the state’s Higher Education plans to develop in 2015, will enable thousands of students who are attending public state colleges and universities to go to school. And get this: for free. At least while they are in school because after they graduate, students are expected to pay back a modicum percentage of their annual adjusted gross incomes, according to ABC News.

One university and one community college will likely be chosen for the pilot. One financial model proposes that “all community college students pay 1.5 percent of their incomes while all four-year public university students pay 3 percent — both for the duration of 20 years after graduation.”